Category Archives: Italian

Last night, listening to CBC Radio on the long, dark, lonely drive home, I heard the rebroadcast of a piece done on The Current.

It had this foodie’s attention because it was about Ryan Stone, Canada’s representative at the Bocuse D’Or competition in January.

The Bocuse D’Or takes place in Lyon, France every other year and is a prestigious world culinary competition.

One of the things that struck me was the level of his preparedness before the event. For his training, his team made the effort to recreate the work environment of the competition space right down to the layout of the kitchen itself, the size of the work surfaces and the positioning of the hard-wired installed equipment. Familiarity would be key to his success. Every surgically executed maneuver was calculated since they were critical to his outcomes and his time on the clock. He brought all of his own serving platters and specialized equipment to the competition.

I understood his strategy. How often in our own kitchen do our moves unfold without fully conscious thought? Our kitchen area just an extension of ourselves. Turning in the work space to the counter behind us. The number of steps to the sink. Our reach from our cutting surface to the cook top.

In a small way I could relate. I had just been in my brother’s beautiful new galley kitchen and all those steps were foreign to me just by the configuration alone. My reach to the spices, usually extended me to my right, now had me reaching down in front, two drawers below. The spatula in my drawer to the left was now in a drawer behind me. A different grip and pressure on the garlic press. No familiar Microplane rasp for the cheese. For them, their kitchen is very functional; their steps committed to their subconscious. As a result, many wonderful meals come from this space.

As I took the lead on Saturday evening’s pasta dinner, I found I needed to reprogram my kitchen dance moves. At least for that afternoon. Eventually I found my new familiarity. If only for a few hours. Thankfully it is a pure blessing how well we work with each other, like poetry in motion, to pull all the final aspects of the meal together in perfect synchronicity. My occasional awkward moments of two left feet went unnoticed.

At 5:55 pm, like a choreographed dance troupe, we sashayed in unison, with the plated dinner dishes in hand, into a very finely decorated dining room and took our seats. My afternoon in the kitchen was no Bocuse D’Or competition, but it was pleasing to know that in the end, the meal was reasonably stress-free, delivered on time and enjoyed by all.

(By the way, Ryan Stone placed 12th, midway in the pack. First place went to 3 time medal winner, Rasmus Kofoed from Denmark.)

Farfalle Pasta with a Spicy Rosé Sauce, Pine Nuts, Parma and PestoInspired by a book club foodie friend, JK

Heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add diced onions and sauté for 3 or 4 minutes until soft. Stir occasionally and control the heat to make sure they do not brown at all. Add the 3 minced cloves of garlic and continue to sauté for another minute until the fragrance of the garlic is released.

Add the tomatoes and tomato sauce. Briefly cut the tomatoes with the edge of your spatula to release their juices. Add the Italian seasoning, chili flakes, sugar, salt and pepper. Let it simmer very slowly for as much as 3 hours if you can afford that time. The tomatoes should fall apart. Cut them apart again if there still remains larger pieces.

Heat the olive oil and sauté the 6 cloves of garlic for about a minute. Make sure the oil is not too hot and that the garlic does not brown at all. Add to the sauce. Stir. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Toast the pine nuts. Using a blender, loosely chop about 1/2 cup of the pine nuts. Add to the sauce. Also add 1/2 cup of grated parma reggiano. Stir. Remove 2 cups of the sauce and purée. Add the purée back into the pot. Stir. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Keep the heat on a low simmer. Just before serving, add the cream and stir. Make sure that you do not over heat the sauce once the cream has been added.

Prepare the pasta. I like to use Barilla’s Farfalle n° 65 because I like the smaller bow-tie size and they also cook through consistently in about 13 minutes.

Stir a bit of sauce on the pasta and turn gently to coat. Place a serving of pasta in a pasta bowl and cover in sauce. Garnish with a dollop of homemade pesto, toasted pine nuts and grated parma reggiano cheese.

My walking buddy, is first generation Canadian. (Her parents immigrated from Italy in the 1950’s.) Like many first generation Canadians, she has held firm to the culinary traditions that her mother brought with her from the Marche region of Italy. Cuccurano di Fano, Pesaro to be exact. Although that move was 54 years ago, the one dish that is still made the same way by mother and daughter is their Italian meatballs and sauce.

I had the privilege to sample this great snack dish one Saturday back in September. From the moment that these much talked about meatballs touched my lips I knew I had to learn to make them. One of the benefits of first generation Canadians from different cultures fraternizing, is that we don’t think twice about adopting ourselves into other ethnic families. We so appreciate all the good foods that have come from our respective homelands and we know it is our responsibility to ensure that they transfer down through the bloodline. And so we try to support each other in these traditions. When it comes to food, she is my Sinful Sister (‘SS’).

PRIVATE MEATBALL TUTOR TIME:I was delighted when ‘SS’ extended the invitation have a private tutoring in her home so I too could learn the tricks of the trade. This past Sunday was the said day. As it turns out, her very Italian mother popped in to visit on a spur of the moment whim. A treat for all of us since she actually lives 5 hours away! How perfect to have a full fledged Italian Meatball Master in our midst. And to my benefit, she didn’t hold back.

She praised us on our pre-game prep: hair up, no long sleeves, apron, clean hands and clean fingernails. Something she doesn’t always see she says on those fancy TV shows on the Food Network! She named names but I will leave that to your judgment, next time you watch!

We started with the sauce so it could have a chance to simmer away and pull all the flavours together while we worked on the meatballs. ‘SS’ was quick to point out that canned tomatoes were fine as long as they came from Italy. The longer growing season means all that extra sun makes for a richer taste. Mamma Alberta told me that she likes to include lard with her olive oil when sautéing the onions. She says it helps to thicken the sauce. Although we didn’t have lard on hand that day, I was going to heed her tip. The sauce had a combination of ground beef and pork in it. Both ‘experts’ say they like to use ground veal to make up part of the beef portion when they can get it.

In addition to the bread crumbs, sometimes the Meatball Master will soak a slice or two of dry bread in milk and crumble it into the mixture.

Parsley is a signature ingredient in Italian meatballs. As is lots of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and bread crumbs. Nutmeg is the secret spice. Again, the meats are a combination of ground beef and pork. Or veal, beef and pork if you have it.

The shaping of the meatballs were Meatball Master ‘tested’ to make sure they were moist enough. We were being evaluated on the amount of grated cheese as well as the proportion of egg to quantity of meat. Although we just used one egg and two egg whites in this batch, I chose to use two in mine and maybe could have used one more as my quantity of meat seemed to be about 30% more. In this batch we made 22 meatballs. In mine, I managed 28.

Once the sauce had simmered for a good hour and a half we could add the meatballs. Our Meatball Master checked to see that all meatballs were resting happily in the simmering sauce for the hour it would take to cook through and build the flavours. She says sometimes she cooks the meatballs in boiling water for two or three minutes before adding them to the sauce because then the “scum” comes off the meat. Who knew! But not something she does all the time.

Making meatballs is serious business! Barley, the meatball guard dog, patiently did his shift watching the pot while we took our wee breaks at the kitchen table.

We also enjoyed Crescia. A cheese bread full of Parmesan that is shaped similar to a panettone. Crescia is an Easter and Christmas treat from the Marche region of Italy. Alberta says that there are those who bake it including Romano cheese but she prefers to use only Parmesan.

And finally the end product. ‘SS’ serves it with a fresh loaf of Italian bread. It helps to soak up the leftover sauce!

As expected, the afternoon was pure delight. So delicious. So satisfying. I couldn’t wait to fly solo and try it out for myself.

NOW IT’S MY TURN:Being house bound today, I took the opportunity to satisfy my craving since I had all the ingredients on hand.

I decided to source my ground veal and pork at Brian’s Butchery & Deli on Cobden Road just off of Iris Street. Here I also picked up Beking eggs. My bread crumbs came from Lavergne Western Beef Inc. My cans of Italian plum tomatoes came from Produce Depot. As did my garlic, onions, lemon and Italian parsley. My stick of Italian bread was made at Compiano Bakery on Preston and I picked it up at Misto Fine Food Emporium in the Hampton Park Plaza. In my second batch, I treated myself and used authentic San Marzano tomatoes! Expensive, but I just had to try. Of course, I loved them. I found these tomatoes at Il Negozio Nicastro.

Chianti makes for a neighbourly companion to meatballs and sauce, since you are asking.

Below is the recipe as I made it today. And here are my changes from the original.

Although I have been very exact in documenting my adapted recipe and changes, ‘SS’ was clear that there is not a lot of measuring going on when making meatballs and sauce. It is a combination of look, feel and quantities of what you might have on hand. Being loose when you make it is a good thing.

* My changes in the sauce: I used less meat. 3/4 pound in total versus 1 1/3 pounds. I used veal instead of beef. I also doubled the onion. I used 2 tablespoons of oil, instead of 4. I added lard. I used 6 cloves instead of 8.

* My changes in the meatballs: I used veal instead of beef. I used 1 1/2 pounds of meat in total instead of just a little over 1 pound. I used 3 cloves of garlic instead of 2. I minced my garlic instead of chopping finely. I used 2 eggs vs. 1 egg and two egg whites. (Move along egg whites if you have them.) I added 1/3 cup of homogenized milk. 1 added 3 tablespoons ricotta cheese. I used 1/2 cup of bread crumbs instead of 3/4 cup. I used Italian parsley instead of curly. I used more cheese.

Put all the ingredients together and mix thoroughly. Form into 1 1/2″ balls. I was able to make 28 balls with this quantity. Drop into the sauce that has been simmering for 1 1/2 hours. Continue to simmer for another hour until the meatballs are cooked through.

Serve a bowl of meatballs and sauce with a few slices of Italian bread that can be used for soaking up the excess sauce!

Sometimes when the heat is high, the appetite is low. A wee snack and drink is just enough to satisfy you on that hot, hot day. Vegetables, dairy, protein, grain, oil. It’s all covered. Good luck picking the right drink. Nothing more to be said.

Cut baguette into thin slices. Brush lightly with olive oil and toast under the broiler. Oil the other side and also brown. Rub bread with garlic. Dice tomatoes, chiffonade basil, finely dice red onion and mix. Season with salt and pepper. Top each bread slice with a portion of mix. Garnish with finely grated parma reggiano and put under the broiler until the cheese completely melts.